Cal Palmer Memorial in Downtown Windermere

The Cal Palmer Memorial Building located at 502 Main Street in downtown Windermere at the intersection of Main Street and Fifth Avenue was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. Originally, this building was the postmaster and town development center for Cal Palmer. A shuffleboard court was built behind the building in 1911 and eventually the building served as a storage unit in 1939. Alicia Marshall opened up Finders Keepers in 1969 and still operates as a consignment shop today.

John Calvin Palmer was born in 1869 in Wauseon, OH, and visited Windermere with Dr. John Howard Johnson in 1910 after the Great Freeze of 1894 to 1895 threw the citrus industry in town for a loop. The two bought 2,000 acres around town in 1911 and formed the Windermere Improvement Company. Cal Palmer took residency in Windermere and Dr. Johnson stayed in Ohio to run the sales office there. Cal Palmer co founded the Windermere Club Company which was responsible for developing and selling of property around Windermere.

Cal Palmer played an integral role in the development of Windermere and also gracious. He donated land for four parks and land for the Windermere Union Church. He later served as postmaster form 1911 to 1914 and a Gotha-Windermere special tax district sub-district from 1918 to 1922, in 1933, and 1934. He also served as the chairman of the Orange County School Board Budget Committee in 1933.

Cal Palmer contributed to the citrus industry in Windermere as well. Palmer founded the Windermere Citrus Growers Association in 1920 and was a member of the Florida Citrus Exchange from 1929 to 1943. Palmer past away in 1966 leaving a great legacy.